Adjunct Professor Matt Gold was quoted in an Inquirer article about the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on steel.
The newly enacted taxes will not apply to finished steel products produced outside the U.S., Czachor said. And that’s where he sees the real trouble. Imported kegs, tools, and heavy equipment are not subject to the new tariffs.
“Downstream imported products, made outside of the U.S., that use a lot of steel, will still be priced cheaply,” he said. “If the Chinese make lockers for a high school, people can import them with no tariff. The imported kegs will still come in using low-cost steel.”
Czachor is correct, said Matt Gold, an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University and a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative.
“The new steel tariffs apply to the metal in raw or unfinished forms, like rolled steel or steel plates or tubes,” Gold said. “It does not apply to finished products made of steel, like steel beer kegs or steel door hinges.”
And when the price of imported steel rises, “the price of American steel on the U.S. market will rise,” mirroring the cost of the imported product and raising costs for firms that use that steel, said Gold.